Another hiatus for 'Doonesbury'

February 11, 2014|Tribune staff

At the Department of Veterans Affairs, Garry Trudeau signs copies of his book "The Sandbox." (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images))

The success of Garry Trudeau’s online sitcom comes with a price: "Alpha House" is being renewed for another season, Trudeau says, but he can’t deliver new weekday "Doonesbury" comic strips at least until fall.

The cartoon will continue to run on Sundays for the time being, according to a statement Tuesday by Trudeau, sent via Universal Uclick, the features syndicate that provides “Doonesbury.” Vacation repeats have been running since Monday.

In the announcement, Trudeau said, “As I discovered last year, the demands of producing the show are considerable, and my efforts to return to the daily strip while we were still in production had to be abandoned.” Beginning last June, Trudeau produced no new strips for several months while he worked on “Alpha House” for Amazon Instant Video.

Trudeau did not commit to a return date. “There's no way of knowing how many seasons of 'Alpha House' lie ahead,” he said, adding, “I could be back drawing 'Doonesbury' full-time in the fall.”

The Tribune is considering which replacement strip will run until new “Doonesbury” strips return.